


i mean, seriously, detective

by gossamerthoughts



Series: invisible string [6]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: 90's Music, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chloe Decker Finds Out, Chloe Decker Needs A Hug, Cute Lucifer, Episode: s03e23 Quintessential Deckerstar, Established Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Hurt Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Lucifer Feels, Magic Mike (Movies) References, POV Chloe, Post-Devil Face Reveal to Chloe Decker, Surprise Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26574760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gossamerthoughts/pseuds/gossamerthoughts
Summary: Chloe has a little fun using Lucifer’s Spotify Premium account…Enter: a playlist full of [bad] ‘90s jams.(Seasons 2-5A+, a series of moments tied together by bad 90’s music. Starts off angsty, gets fluffy - I promise!)Deckerstar one-shot. Playlist included!
Relationships: Chloe Decker & Lucifer Morningstar, Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar
Series: invisible string [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924108
Comments: 12
Kudos: 93





	i mean, seriously, detective

_ “Oh, full of '90s jams, I see. The Bangles, N'Sync…  _ **_Right Said Fred_ ** _? I mean, seriously, Detective, your music queue alone is enough to disqualify you from this case." _

_ \- Lucifer [s2 ep14, “Candy Morningstar”] _

* * *

**_I. I would fall from grace (just to touch your face)_ ** ****

Under no circumstances does Lucifer imagine himself going to back to Hell of his own free will, but Chloe’s dying,  _ really _ dying, and he certainly isn’t about to let her go up to the Silver City, where he inevitably would never be able to see her again.

He isn’t ready for that. Not now, perhaps not ever, but that is a matter for another time.

So he does it, comes back, thanks to Mum but also no thanks to Mum.

He wakes with a startling clarity, an epiphany. He is done. Done putting his Detective’s life in danger, done with Mum’s games and revenge fantasies for Father. Oh, he’s all for pulling one on dear old Dad, but not like this. Not when Chloe’s life is at stake.

He watches her sleep, so blissfully at peace, an impossibly bright part of Heaven right here on Earth. He watches her wake, blinking slowly, a beatific smile spreading across her face as she realizes it’s him at her beside.

“I know this has all put a pause on you and I, so… should we just pick up where we left off?” Her gaze is bright and direct, blue eyes filled with such hope that his heart nearly breaks thinking of what he’s about to do. Lucifer can’t help but expel a little huff of disbelief — never did he think that the detective would ever want to pick up anything with him, much less anything remotely romantic.

Her lips curve up in a tentative smile as she searches his face. Panic blinds him for a second before he schools it into its normal charming countenance. He pulls his lips up in a mirrored smile as well. “I think right now, you just need to focus on feeling better, Detective,” he says, getting up to make his escape.

Her gaze follows him as he stands. “And we’ll talk,” she nods three times, as if assuring herself, “we’ll talk later, yeah?” There it is again, that bloody hopeful expression, the absolute decimation of the last shards of his heart. He doesn’t lie to her,  _ can’t _ lie to her, so he says nothing.

Chloe takes it as a yes and falls asleep with Trixie in her arms and the promise of something bright and new on the horizon.

(She doesn’t know yet that she would walk into Lux to find that promise shattered on the floor, her hundreds of voicemails unanswered, but all the answer she needs is the sight of Lucifer’s beloved piano covered in cloth. He is gone.)

* * *

**_II. am I only dreaming, or is this burning an eternal flame?_ **

He comes back married.

_Of course_ he does.

Candy Morningstar is Chloe’s polar opposite, all bouncy blond curls and big boobs, a sunshine smile and absolutely no baggage.

_Of course_ he would go to Vegas and get married to a stripper.

What did she expect, that Lucifer Morningstar would  _ change _ for her? That because they shared some moments, because he acted like he cared, that he actually did?

She’s pissed. She’s so fucking pissed and Lucifer just struts back into her life with a new wife on his arm and pretends that everything’s okay, and Chloe is just  _ done. _

It comes to a boiling point when Candy, of all people, points out an immensely helpful coincidence-that-can’t-be-a-coincidence, something that Chloe would’ve caught if she wasn’t so hung up on why Lucifer would do this to her, and it just sets her off even more.

“I know a  _ lot _ about music,” she spits, and turns back to survey the murder board.

Lucifer snatches the phone out of her hand, unlocking it quickly and going straight to her Spotify. “Oh, full of '90s jams, I see. The Bangles, N'Sync… Right Said Fred? I mean, seriously, Detective, your music queue alone is enough to disqualify you from this case."

“You’re not the one who’s on this case, Lucifer.” She’s trying to keep calm, because she’s Chloe Decker and that’s what she does, but Lucifer has an uncanny way of getting under her skin.

“But…” The man actually looks  _ confused _ , as if he didn’t just disappear for weeks without warning or word, like this isn’t an actual  _ job _ that he has to show up to every day.

The nerve.

“But what about our partnership?” Lucifer stutters.

“Our  _ partnership? _ Our partnership ended when you ghosted me and the entire department. You can’t just march in here like nothing’s wrong! You can’t just grab what you want when you want.” Her eyes are fully blazing now, her breath speeding up as she voices her innermost thoughts.

Lucifer looks a little shocked and very much taken aback, like he hasn’t even considered that. For a brief moment, Chloe feels like she’s scolding Trixie, but this is very different from her eight-year-old daughter eating chocolate cake and lying about it. Lucifer is a  _ grown man,  _ for God’s sake, and needs to know that his actions have consequences.

“Right… I’ll just put this over there then,” he says slowly, cautiously placing her phone on the edge of a desk close to her. She almost thinks he’ll back away with his hands up in the air — she’s become Cop Chloe now, the one the criminals know to shut up and obey.

Chloe snatches her phone up, hurt and vulnerability warring in her heart. They stare at each other in silence before a beat, before she breaks. “You let me down, Lucifer,” she says, hating that tears are seeping out from under her lashes but unable to stop them. “I mean, what good is a partner if I can’t depend on you?”

He tilts his head; Chloe knows he’s about to argue. “I don’t need you anymore,” she says quickly, firmly, before he can open his mouth.

“Wha- surely you don’t mean that,” he says, smiling nervously.

“I do,” she snaps. “You can go.”

It needed to be done, but why did Chloe just feel like she kicked a puppy?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yet, despite her anger, he’s there at a piano on the stage and she’s reminded of the time they played “Heart and Soul” on his grand piano in Lux, and he’s singing “Eternal Flame,” one of her guilty pleasure songs, and he’s looking right at her.

Chloe can’t help but smile.

She’s right, she  _ doesn’t _ need him, but God does she want him.

* * *

**_III. losing my religion (trying to keep up with you)_ **

_ “Lucifer’s the reason I said yes to Pierce… and he’s also the reason I said no.” _

_ — Chloe [s3. Ep.23, “Quintessential Deckerstar”] _

For a moment, Chloe thought that maybe, just maybe, her life would be normal.

Marcus is charming and his intentions are clear — he wants her, and that is that. Not like Lucifer, who plays games both with her and perhaps with himself most of all. Chloe’s no therapist, but if she could look in Linda’s files for Lucifer, she’s sure that her suspicions would be confirmed — that Lucifer’s fear of attachment and abandonment causes him to push away those he cares about most.

Marcus is her type anyway, or perhaps  _ was _ her type before Lucifer came along, all strong shoulders and arms that could easily lift you anywhere, blonde good looks and slightly-douchey-but-well-meaning smiles.

Even still, she can’t help but feel like there’s something  _ missing _ , something that she’s only felt with Lucifer.

Chloe doesn’t know why she keeps giving him chances, doling them out like Trixie doles out lollipops to her “patients,” but maybe that has something to do with it.

Because with Lucifer, everything just feels  _ right. _

Yet. Yet here she is, clammy with shock as Lucifer kneels over Pierce’s unmoving body, white feathers fluttering around the abandoned space.

“Lucifer?” she calls. She thinks she knows what she’ll find, but there’s no way she could’ve prepared for this.

Lucifer turns slowly, his face as red as the fires of Hell.

“It’s all true,” she gasps.

Faintly, as if from far away, she hears his familiar voice saying, “Detective?” It’s loaded with concern, but her mind simply cannot process the voice she’s come to know and love emitting from the hellish face of the Devil.

She turns, runs, leaves. As she drives back home, hands shaking and tears pouring from her face, her shuffled Spotify playlist starts blasting “Losing Your Religion.” The tears turn into full out wails at the irony of it all, and she has to park and collect herself for a long moment before continuing to drive.

_ Consider this  
_ _ The slip that brought me  
_ _ To my knees failed  
_ _ What if all these fantasies  
_ _ Come flailing around… _

_ That's me in the corner  
_ _ That's me in the spotlight  
_ _ Losing my religion. _

* * *

**_IV. that girl is poison_ **

_ “I forgot the music! I made a playlist full of bad ‘90’s jams for you.” _

_ — Lucifer [s.4 ep.2, “Somebody’s been reading Dante’s Inferno”] _

Chloe is a problem-solver, an analytical thinker. It’s what makes her such a good detective — her ability to come to a solution, her persistence in finding answers.

But how do you solve the problem that is falling in love with the Devil?

Maybe it’s not a problem, per se, but every time Chloe tries to wrap her mind around it, the mere concept that the man she’s fallen for and worked alongside for the past three years is indeed the Devil Himself, well. That causes her brain to short-circuit, not in a pleasant way.

While Trixie indulges in far more gelato than Chloe would normally allow, Chloe seeks answers. Finds people. Runs into the priest at the Vatican who claims to solve her problems, who provides her with old books and whispers in her ear about the Devil who cares about no one but himself, who manipulates and devices, the Prince of Lies, the Prince of Darkness. The bringer of death and destruction, evil incarnate.

But that doesn’t sound like Lucifer either.

But then again, does Chloe even really know Lucifer?

They’re here, sipping wine on the floor of Lux over his little coffee table, and Chloe can’t help but think that this would be very nice under different circumstances. You know, if she wasn’t trying to poison him so a priest could perform a ritual to send him back to Hell.

Causal. All that jazz.

“I’m glad there are no more secrets between us, Detective,” he says, brown eyes bright and earnest as he looks up at her. He thinks that she’s accepted his Devil face, accepted him wholly, and who knows? Maybe she has, but she also is scared — not of  _ him _ , but of what it meant for the world.

She gives him a smile, or half of one anyway, and maybe he senses the awkwardness because he suddenly jumps up. “Oh, silly me!” he says, nearly knocking over his glass of wine with his long limbs. It’s so unusual for him to be this unelegant that Chloe thinks maybe… maybe he’s nervous to be around her? “I forgot the music! I made a playlist of bad ‘90’s jams for you…” he trails off as he heads into the bedroom excitedly.

Trembling, Chloe pulls the small vial out of her purse. As she uncorks it and tilts it over Lucifer’s glass, she feels like something is very, very wrong.

She’s torn for a moment, and then —

**_“That girl is pooooiiiiiison!”_ **

bursts from the bedroom, and Chloe jumps at the irony of it, shattering Lucifer’s wineglass in the process.

He rushes out of the bedroom — he  _ is  _ nervous, she thinks, like a man on a first date — and apologizes profusely as he gathers up the shards of the wineglass. “Ow!” he yelps as he cuts his hand on a particularly sharp piece.

“You’re bleeding,” Chloe says, shocked, as he sucks his finger.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” He turns, goes to get a napkin, but Chloe’s mind is in overdrive. Sure, she’s glad that she didn’t end up poisoning him, but now she has a hell lot more questions than she ever did. They all come spilling out as she turns to face him.  _ Were you trying to manipulate me? Was any of this ever real? _

She’s crying now, really crying, feels the familiar sting of tears. Even in all her confusion she can’t help but notice the sincerity in Lucifer’s eyes, the concern that he has. “The difference is _you_ , Detective,” he says when she’s paused for a breath. “I don’t fully understand it, but I’m only vulnerable around you.”

They both pause and stare at each other, silent in the light of his truth and the possibility of what it means.

* * *

**_V. you gave me faith 'cause you believed_ **

_ “If you choose to be vulnerable around me, then I choose to be vulnerable around you.” _

_ — Chloe [s.5 ep.5, Detective Amenadiel] _

Lucifer has been to Hell and back for the Detective three times now, but as they say, third time’s the charm.

Or so he hopes. He really doesn’t want to spend another couple thousand of years in that Dad-forsaken place. It’s, well, quite literally Hell.

But he’s back, no thanks (but kind of thanks) to his infuriating, life-stealing, weaselly twin.

In a way, Lucifer supposes he could thank Michael for wreaking havoc — it proved (not that he  _ needed _ proof, per se, but it did feel good) that Chloe knew him better than anyone. And it got him a “get out of jail free” card (dear Dad, did he miss those Monopoly nights with the Detective and the urchin).

They’ve got into a little routine, he and the Detective. She sleeps over on nights when Dan has the urchin, looking sinfully delicious in his white button-down (he’d never admit it, but he’s had a thing for that ever since he came back from Vegas to find her asleep on his bed wearing it), In the morning, she makes his famous Hawaiian bread sandwiches or waffles while he tries to convince her to come back to bed for another round.

It’s Heaven on Earth, and Lucifer wouldn’t have it any other way.

He’s  _ happy _ for once, and while that happiness almost feels tenuous, too good to be true, he simply allows himself to bask in it for once.

They share most things now (he supposes that happens once you share bodily fluids with someone you truly love). He’s happy to do so; he knows that LAPD pays his Detective far less than she’s worth.

Besides, he can’t have her playing her bad ‘90s jams on a  _ free _ Spotify account with  _ ads _ . They used that to torture people in Hell, for Dad’s sake! Nothing like being unable to skip a song you don’t want to hear at the moment  _ and  _ listen to the same ad for the millionth time in a row.

He hasn’t quite gotten the hang of creating a family plan, so he just gives her the password and allows her to go wild. “What’s mine is yours,” he says with a devilish grin. “Password’s 666; now let me put mine in yours…” he winks and trails kisses down her neck as she rolls her eyes cackles at his bad joke.

She lets him “put mine in yours” anyways.

There’s a particular playlist he remembers creating for her a year ago, full of bad 90’s jams that his detective so dearly loves, but he’s noticed it hasn’t been used.

Instead, a new playlist has popped up in its place:  **chloe’s bad 90’s jams** ((  [ Spotify link here. ](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2oN0HaOOzvEZ5Mh9ubr71r?si=wZMp6JZ_QyS5xRmD5Zeg2w) ))

Curious, he gives it a whirl on a night Chloe’s with her spawn, laughing at the cover she put on it — a picture of her in the white-button down he so much loved, singing into what looked like a beer bottle. He supposes Daniel or the doctor must’ve taken it, and he can’t help but grin at how carefree she looks.

To his surprise, it’s not half bad.

Though honestly, all 90’s music reminds him of Chloe now, the sappy ballads touching his heart in a way they never have before. It’s almost like a walk down memory lane, remembering the time he sang “Eternal Flame” to her, the time he thought they were starting over and he very aptly played “Poison” as she was tipping poison into his drink… she has a sense of humor too, it seems: “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “Angel of Mine,” “Who Will Save Your Soul,” and “Flying without Wings” are too cleverly picked for her to  _ not _ be thinking of him.

Then “I’m Too Sexy” bursts out, the abrupt change of pace startling a laugh from him, and as “Pony” follows it, a very devilish idea crosses his mind…

~~~~~~~~~~

“Lucifer?” Chloe calls as she steps off of the penthouse elevator. The lights are dim, and she has a sudden flashback to the time he’d disappeared to Vegas after her near-death, leaving her behind like a piece of furniture, abandoned.

She’s just about to call his name again when a single spotlight drops down, illuminating a chair. “Sit,” Lucifer’s voice instructs.

Shrugging, she does as she’s told.

Suddenly, music explodes out of Lucifer’s surround sound and he struts out, wearing an actual  _ T-shirt _ instead of his usual three-piece suit.

She gapes at the absurdity of it, then realizes what song’s playing.

“Is this Right Said Fred?” she gasps.

“Shhh, Detective,” he says, grinning.

And proceeds to strip off his shirt in pace with the song.

Chloe sits, shocked and very amused, and more than a little turned on. A smile spreads over her face as the song ends and another very familiar 90’s jam comes on.

_ I'm just a bachelor  
_ _ I'm looking for a partner  
_ _ Someone who knows how to ride… _

Lucifer’s gyrating his hips like someone right out of Magic Mike, and Devil be damned if she didn’t want to jump his bones right here and now.

But she wouldn’t cut this performance short for anything in the world.

_ If you're horny let’s do it, ride it, my pony  
_ _ My saddle's waiting, come and jump on it _

As the song ends, he scoops her up and carries her to bed, and she shows him just how well she can ride it.

**END.**

**Author's Note:**

> My brain just likes making Chloe/Lucifer playlists and dropping these one-shots. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> section titles below!  
> I. title from “don’t blame me” by Taylor Swift  
> II. title from “eternal flame” by The Bangles  
> III. title from “losing my religion” by R.E.M  
> IV. title from “poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe  
> V. title from “because you loved me” by Celine Dion


End file.
